1998 Dominus

Enologist Boris Champy describes 1998 as a moderately ripe year in which the terroir doesn't really express itself. Nineteen ninety-nine was similarly cool but was also dryer, he noted. "We did a lot of crop-thinning and there were also small berries in '99, with the result that we had very low yields and a good concentration of tannins. Acids were actually higher than those of the previous year." The 2000 growing season was perfect "on paper," he told me, although a hot spell in early June followed by cooler weather extended the flowering and required crop-thinning to even out fruit ripeness.

Among the developments here in the last year: the replanting to cabernet of the old chardonnay vines between the winery and Highway 29, and the installation of an electronic gate to stop the constant flow of walk-in visitors. According to enologist Boris Champy, both '99 and '98 brought difficult conditions for Dominus, although '99 was the drier year. It took substantial crop thinning to ripen the fruit, including a second thinning (what Champy called a toilettage or cleaning) at the end of August. The '98 harvest extended from September 20 to October 22, with a big gap in harvest dates between the merlot and cabernet sauvignon. Ultimately, nearly half of the estate's production was sold off; my early look at the '98, tasted just after an egg white fining, suggests that all these sacrifices have resulted in a very strong wine for the vintage. The '97 has turned out superbly; the estate ranks it just behind the '91 and '94.